 We see peace in our daily lives between family, friends and co-workers and between strangers and members of different communities. This means that peace is possible. How does peace emerge and sustain? Why does violence occur despite the possibility of peace? The purpose of the initiative for the study of a stable peace is to examine the answers to these questions. The initiative is a network of scholars dedicated to the study of peace, conflict and violence through the lens of mainline political economy. We focus on researching and understanding the diversity, dynamics and emergence of a stable peace across various contexts. A stable peace, according to economist Kenneth Bolding, occurs when conflicting parties believe that the likelihood of violence is so small that it does not enter into their calculations as a feasible course of action. Scholars that are associated with the initiative study the various factors that contribute to the existence or absence of a stable peace through time. Our unique approach to the study of stable peace is inspired what economist Pete Betke calls the mainline tradition in the social sciences. This tradition refers to a set of propositions about social order that were held in common from Adam Smith onward. The foundational principles of the mainline framework can be summarized as follows. First, people act purposefully to achieve their goals. Second, social cooperation, including the achievement of a stable peace, is possible without central control and command. Third, formal and informal institutions guide and direct human behavior and influence whether and how social cooperation emerges. The initiative for the study of a stable peace provides a community of scholars committed to the exploration of stable peace through the framework offered by these foundational propositions. Rather than envisioning peace as a result of moral perfection or central direction, we study how formal and informal institutions shape the likelihood that real, imperfect, fallible human beings will cooperate peacefully with one another. Relatedly, we study the limitations and consequences of top-down attempts to impose peace both within and across societies. Through a variety of intellectual and scholarly activities, the initiative seeks to create space for interdisciplinary scholars to study and share ideas related to understanding and addressing the most pressing issues related to the stable peace.